Southern Girls Challenge - Christmas Wishes

I'm a southern girl again this week. Their current challenge is Christmas Wishes. I recently purchased the WRMK Gift Box Punch Board and I decided to make small treat boxes and fill them with candy for colleagues and treatment providers. I bought some Christmas stickers on sale and used them to decorate the boxes with some washi tape that was part of a prize from Simon Says Stamp. After a few dots of perfect pearls (still love them!) they were done. Here's the last box to get delivered:

You might notice that there is no washi on this one. This was the first one I made but the rest of them had a strip of washi around the middle. Unfortunately, I had already delivered the boxes without taking a photo of the pile. They looked so cute all together.

The details for the challenge are here.

Materials: Paper (Bazill), Washi (Doodlebug), Perfect Pearls (Ranger), WRMK Gift Box Punch Board, Stickers.

Ellen Hutson 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist - Jill Foster

Wahoo! I managed to get another tag done from Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist. This one was inspired by Day 10: Jill Foster. Jill used gelatos and the technique that I was amazed by was colouring seam binding with gelatos then blending with a baby wipe - it worked brilliantly! So easy and cool! I also liked the non traditional Christmas colours, the snowflakes and the bling. I didn't have a reindeer stamp so I had to forgo that bit. Here's my version:

Earlier this week I saw Donna Downey's latest video on the Craft Channel where she used a stencil over the dried gelatos and used a baby wipe to remove the colour through the stencil. I decided to try this on the tag. I remembered that I have a lovely Spellbinders Lattice die and a piece I had cut out earlier to test it out. I used this piece as my stencil instead and it worked wonderfully! I made this tag in my DD art journal so I have it for future reference.

Materials: Gesso, Gelatos, Spellbinders Die, Doily, Stamp (unknown), Snowflake Punch, Bling, Seam Binding, Versamark Ink, Baby Wipes.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make Your Own Background

It's not Wednesday but I did create a card for SSS latest challenge - make your own background. I used texture paste with a stencil then I sprinkled glitter on the texture paste. It looked gorgeous but the glitter rubbed off when you touched it. Hairspray to the rescue! I was inspired by a May Flaum card on the SSS blog this past week so I added the stamped rectangle with the large pennant. Here's my beauty:

Here's a close up of the background detail so you can see the raised glitter portions:

The details for the challenge are here.

Materials: Cardstock (Stampin' Up!), Stamp (Kaisercraft), Stencil (Prima), Texture Paste, Embossing Powder, Vellum, Glitter, Versamark.

Ellen Hutson 12 Days of Christmas with a Feminine Twist - Day 3 Ronda Palazzari

This is my second tag for the Ellen Hutson 12 Days of Christmas with a Feminine Twist. This one was inspired by the bird in the star bottle cap on Ronda Palazzi's tag. I dug out a Maya Road bottle cap I was sent as part of a prize. I didn't have a chipboard bird or a die but I have the Stampin' Up! bird punch. I just punched it out a few times and glued the layers together to give it more stability. I also used a music background stamp with Stazon instead of the sheet music. Here's my version:

 

I coloured a wooden snowflake with distress stain and popped it in the bottom of the bottle cap. I also added a few pearls in the base.

 

Materials: Cardstock, Alphabet Stamp, Bird Punch (Stampin' Up!), Background Stamp ( Kiwi Impressionz), Distress Paint & Stain (Tim Holtz), Bottle Cap & Snowflake (Maya Road), Pearls (Kaisercraft), Stencil (Prima), Pins, Scrap Paper, Flower, Ribbon., Embossing Powder.

Ellen Hutson 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist - Day 2 Julie Ebersole

Ellen Hutson is doing 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist again and this year I am playing along again too.

This tag was inspired by Julie Ebersole on Day 2. I was drawn to the vellum banner and the gold hearts. I also liked the cut out window and city scene. I knew I had an old Sizzix city scene die and some old gold printed vellum. I had to use a Ranger Nib and a gold paint pen to get the gold hearts on either side of the banner. Here's my version:

Materials:
Cardstock (Stampin' Up!), Washi Tape (Doodle Bug), Paper (Bazzill), Die & Embossing Folder(Sizzix), Vellum & Star Stamp (unknown), Gold Paint Pen, Ribbon.

All Things Heidi Swapp

It was wonderful meeting Heidi Swapp at CAD this year and her classes were brilliant! Heidi Swapp is sponsoring Centre Stage at Artfull Crafts this month and I really want to win some [more] of her product! I created the following layout based on their sketch. I will say it again, I don't prefer to work from a sketch, but this one came together really quickly! It is a different style for me (there is pink in there) but I like it. I hope my darling niece does too.

Thanks for letting me take nice shots of you (without you making funny faces!). See how lovely they turned out :)

I am also submitting this to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes! The details for the challenge are here.

Materials: Paper (Girl's Paperie, Heidi Swapp), Pennants, Colour Shine, Acrylic Piece (Heidi Swapp), Staples (Tim Holtz), Ink (Stampin' Up!), Border Punch (EK Success), Pens, Ribbon, Bling Brads.

Got Ink?

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Design Team Submission:
This frame was part of a class I did with Heidi Swapp in New Zealand. I loved the frame but decided to make it a project on it's own. I tried adding coloured texture paste through a stencil but it just did not look good in this case. I added paint to see if it improved - no such luck. Cue Dad with my mouse sander to take off my first attempt. I got him to stop while there were still remnants remained (coral and pale blue) and added black spray through a damask stencil - instant happy! Coral and pale blue sprays were used to tie it all together.  Lastly it was time to add the flowers, photo corners and the ring binder clip (cue handy Dad again!). I create little tags and pages periodically and add them to the clip. It is still one of my favourite projects.


No, I'm not going to talk tattoos; I'm talking about my frame again. Yes, It's still all about that frame. I am still in love with it and I am enjoying slowly creating and adding pieces to it. I made a canvas cover page for the album and I am submitting it to the Simon Says Stamp Got Ink? Challenge.  I simply coloured the canvas with Colour Shine - Coral is my new favourite colour!  I also 'made' a patterned overlay cover to go on top but I have decided to use that as the back page now as I like this canvas one to be seen clearly instead.

And now I will show you a closer view so you can see the ink splatters I added and read the message I embossed on to it. FYI embossing on canvas looks awesome!!!! Will repeat that again for sure :)

Still loving the frame and the phrase. Must remember to keep dancing even when its pouring! :)

Challenge Details: Simon Says Stamp Challenge Got Ink? The page is here.

Materials: Canvas, Kaisercraft (stamp), Embossing Powder, Heidi Swapp (Colour Shine), Eyelets (Provocraft), Versamark (ink)



DCWV November Challenge

Just adding my submission for the DCWV November Challenge here so that my friends can come see the layout.

 

Would you look at that: a short blog post from me!

Heidi Swapp Frame

Remember this frame from CAD earlier this year?

I took the mini album out and filled it with pictures from a trip to OZ (already blogged about) which left the frame free for my creative endeavours. Well, the frame went from " I love, love, love it" to  " aaaaargh! I've ruined it!" You see, I saw a video online for colouring texture paste so I coloured it with the Georgia Peach colour shine and added it to the frame through a lattice stencil - disaster!  Pity because I had stencilled charcoal over a damask stencil beforehand and that bit looked perfect! Out came the mouse sander and I then learned that texture paste is not easy to sand off! Dad to the rescue.

Once the offending texture paste was removed I started again. I was going to prime the wood with gesso but I couldn't get the lid off so I went for matt and rustic instead! Back to the damask stencil but this time I used an ink blending tool so that I could A) save my ink and B) add some areas darker than others. A few spritzes of Georgia Peach and then I dry brushed some blue paint on top. I painted the inside edges blue, a few more spritzes of Georgia Peach, and then I embossed the phrase on the back plate. Next up was to colour some flowers and decorate the frame. Finally it was back to "I love, love, love you" again.

A Touch of Sparkle

Today's blog post has a touch of sparkle to it. The current challenge over at Southern Girl's Challenge blog is: Shine On. The projects need to have a touch of shimmer or shine. Mine has a touch of sparkle! The details for the challenge are here

When I made the card in the previous blog post I embossed two cards and made a second card with different stamps and different colours. I also reversed the hexagon embossing on this one (I'm not sure if you can see in the picture but the stamps are placed inside each embossed hexagon). It was fun  making the background (and nerve wracking - what if I mis-stamped!) but I decided to go further with this one and added a greeting, a butterfly and a punch out (coloured to match).  The next day I decided to add more sparkle by adding a tiny dot of liquid pearls to each of the yellow stamped images.

The butterfly has silver glitter in the pattern and the liquid pearls surely count as shimmer?

Materials: Cardstock and Patterned Paper  (Stampin' Up!, DCWV), Stamps (Hero Arts, Maya Rd, Stampin' Up!), Ink (Stampin' Up!), Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!), Punches (EK Success), Liquid Pearls (Ranger).

It's Not About The Card

This week it is not about the card; it is all about the envelope!

The current challenge at A Blog Named Hero is: Embell- Ope. You are required to embellish an envelope. You are not required to make a matching card but I did. I made my card first then made the envelope in the same colours. The reason why they are in two different styles (but same colour scheme) is that I used other brand stamps on my card so I delved into my stash to find Hero Arts brand stamps for the envelope.

The details for the challenge are here

 I do actually embellish my envelopes sometimes when I give cards - even if it is just a strip of washi on the top or bottom - it makes a real difference.

First, I will show you my card and envelope together:

Then the envelope on its own:

 

Finally, the card itself:

I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture but I embossed the white cardstock with a honeycomb embossing folder and I then stamped the images inside each hexagon. It looks really cool in real life. I did a second one where I did the honeycomb in reverse. It looks neat either way.

I might show you the card again in a few days as I decided to add liquid pearl drops to the centre of each of the flowers. Gosh I love that stuff [liquid pearls]. I want to go out and order it in every colour immediately! [Photos are updated!]

Materials:
Cardstock (Stampin' Up!), Stamps (Hero Arts, Maya Rd), Ink (Stampin' Up!), Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!),

A Recipe Challenge

The BFF came over for a scrapbooking session and we decided to do the Scrappin' Patch Recipe Challenge.  I have to say; it was a real challenge for me and the BFF will testify to that by the amount of muttering and cursing that was coming from me. I thought starting with a sketch was a challenge but a recipe challenge is even harder!

Here's the recipe:
3x Patterned Papers
1x Doily
2x Buttons or Brads
1x Staple (I used 2 - shhhh!)
Ribbon
Masking/Masking
Layering

You could use inks, pens and sprays and one other thing.

The first challenge, for me, was the 3 patterned papers - I struggle with mixing patterned papers and I am concerned with the cost of using so many papers on one layout. The next challenges were ones that both the BFF and I struggled with - the masking and the staple. How do you add masking when you are already using three patterned papers? Isn't it busy enough? Then, one staple? And where do you put it? I ended up using 2 staples. My one other thing is the ricrac.

I've never struggled so much with a layout or a challenge and it took me so long!

PS The ribbons on the photo corners are actually bright teal green - it just doesn't show up in the photo. The doily was spritzed with charcoal spray ink through a damask stencil - again it doesn't show up well.

The details for the challenge are  here

Materials: Papers (Kaisercraft, Echo Park), Stencil (Prima), Spray Ink (Tattered Angel), Staple (Tim Holtz), Buttons (Doodlebug), Ink (Tim Holtz), Doily, Ribbon

A Triple Challenge For A Change

Finally I have been creating and can share my card with you. It is totally different to my usual style  yet I still like it. I can see myself making this one again. I did have an 'Aha' moment after I made it: I was wondering if I needed to add foliage to the flowers. I only have a couple of leaves in my stash (Really? you say. Believe it or not; its true). Last night my brain got to working and I thought about a large Martha Stewart Vine border punch I have then I wondered if I had a fern punch in my stash. This morning I checked out my old punches - remember those from the early days of scrapbooking? I was quite shocked to realise just how many of them I have! I did indeed have a fern punch as well as a holly leaf punch. Oddly enough, the holly punch was the one that worked best. Here's my little beauty:

Pretty no? The butterfly was part of my prize for being published this year. I have another green butterfly from the packet and I think I might have to make another card like this to use it on. I also have a beaded dragon fly that would work great on a card like this. Best I go get creating then.....

This card was made for three challenges:
A Blog Named Hero: #34 You Better Shape it Up . The details are here
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Use a Rubber or Clear Stamp. The details are here
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Inspired by Tammy Tutterow. I was inspired by the daisies on a couple of her creations and the butterfly - I did a cluster with flowers and a butterfly on my card. The details for the challenge are here

Materials:
Cardstock (Stampin' Up!, BoBunny), Dies (Spellbinders), Stamp (Montarga), Ink and Pen (Tim Holtz), Flowers (Prima, Kaisercraft), Butterfly (Couture Creations), Pearls, Punch.

What I've Been Up To Lately...

The months are whizzing by and I nearly missed loading a post for September! Never fear, I managed to get one in just in time. And, if we go by USA time, then I have a day to spare :)

Since my last post I have been creating here and there and unfortunately I was also sick which sucked my creative mojo. I finished my double page 2012 layout - this is one I do every year with index photos. This year I added fold out pages on the outside edges to create room for journaling and more photos. I had held off working on this project as I wasn't sure how to 'handle' the content. Last year was challenging for me health-wise and I wanted to document it yet still remain positive. I think I managed it.

Last weekend I finally got my creative mojo back and added photos to the mini albums made at CAD earlier this year. I really enjoyed creating them and I even used pink stickles (I am not a pink kind of girl).  Thought I'd use my September post to show you how they turned out:

 

 

 

These are photos from times with good friends in Auckland over a couple of visits last year. I love, love, love that I finally used some stamps from my collection that I have never used - that's right I said never. At least I can feel a little less shame now, right?

 

 

These photos were from a trip to Canberra to visit dear family friends.

 

 

 

 

These photos were from a family trip to Melbourne and I love the family pictures we took at a restaurant one night.

 

There you go, that's what I have been up to lately.

Pulling Out The F Word

Today's post is all about things beginning with F. Don't worry, you won't have to cover your ears! Family, Frills and Flourishes was all I was going to say :)

The challenge at Southern Girls' Challenge this fortnight is Things Beginning With F. I am submitting the following layout for the challenge. The details are here .

This is only the second time I have done a shaped layout. The paper itself is lovely so I didn't want to over embellish it. I coloured the bling with my new Kaisercraft Fusion Alcohol pen I bought at SENZ this year but it ended up being too dark green. I then pulled out my new favourite play thing - liquid pearls - and carefully dropped some on each pearl. It turned out a perfect match. Man, I love liquid pearls and need every colour.


Materials: Paper (Kaisercraft, Kaskade), Bling (Kaisercraft), Liquid Pearls (ranger), Pen (Kaisercraft), Roller Stamp (Joannes), Ink (Stampin' Up!), Ribbon, Flowers, Doily, Bling Branches (home décor item).

Sophie's Card - Take #2 Inspiration Emporium

This is the other card I made for Miss S.  I haven't heard [yet] if she has pulled anything off this one but at least there was nothing for her to harm herself with on this replacement card!

I am entering this card on the current monthly challenge on the Inspiration Emporium blog: Happy Birthday America or Other Birthday Celebrations.  Naturally, I didn't make a happy birthday America card but I am pretty sure a simple 1st birthday card is almost as important.  The details for the challenge are here .

Here's the replacement card I made as it was attached to the wrapped present. I am pretty chuffed with the wrapping as I don't normally spend that much of an effort on the gift wrap.

The embossing folder I used was one that came in a sale bundle ($3 for 5 -Bargain!). I instantly fell in love with this folder and can see myself making a whole lot of these in various colours.  I think you could give blank versions with different coloured centre squares with different sentiments stamped on them as gifts. The gift receiver could put a card together according to their colour preference and sentiment required.

Materials: Cardstock (Stampin' Up!), Embossing Folder (Craft Concepts), Glitter (Martha Stewart), #1 and 'S' (American Crafts), Tag (Making Memories), Paper (DCWV), Doily, Twine

Sophie's Card - Take #1 No Spoolin'

Remember a little while back I mentioned I made a really cool (I think) card for the first birthday of the divine Miss S? Do you remember that I realised after I made it that it is inappropriate for a 1 year old - bits that can be pulled off and other bits that are pointy (ouch!). Can you tell I don't have children?  But it was so cute (I may have said that already).

I am entering this card in the current challenge at the Southern Girls' Challenge blog : No Spoolin'.  No using anything that comes on a spool - twine, ribbon, cotton. Washi is ok but I didn't use any here. The link for the challenge is here . 

Without further ado here is my card:

The button was in a stashie I won as a letter to the editor in Scrapbooking Memories.  When I fist saw it I thought: when would I use that? I think it works perfectly with the honey comb embossing.  This was one of the cards I made with the Sizzix diffusers but I ended up covering the diffused centre circle as I didn't know what to do with it.

For once there is no stamping on my card - shock horror! (I couldn't find a small Best Wishes stamp in my stash)

Materials: Cardstock (Stampin' Up!), Flag and Button (Two Sisters), Embossing Folder (Sizzix), Flowers.

Teressa Collins Giveaway!

Teresa Collins has a massive giveaway today on her blog - one (or more) lucky person will win 4 (yes, FOUR) of her new collection packs! Excited much.

Here's the link: http://teresacollins.typepad.com/teresa_collins/2013/07/cha-come-visit-us.html#comment-6a00d8344adac153ef0192ac287951970d

Your Welcome and good luck!

What Do You Do When You Are Grounded?

What do you do when you are grounded? Why, create of course! I was supposed to be heading to our fair nation's capital last weekend but Wellington got hit with its worst storm in 45 years! My flight was cancelled which I was quite happy about in the end as the gale force winds registered at 200km an hour! Yikes! I was rebooked the next morning to fly to Palmerston North then bus down to Wgtn but I turned down that option. I can't really complain because there were people in far worse situations: no power, roofs missing, 2.5m snow in South Island etc).

The flight cancellation left me with a cleared schedule and the thought: what does one do when one is grounded? I made the most of my free time and read, caught up with friends who had 2 tickle monsters residing in their house, and created (of course).  A packet of Sizzix Diffusers (*cough*) may (*cough*) have arrived at my house recently (I admit nothing). I had to give them a try, right? I must admit I was a little bit at a loss as to what to fill the diffused bits with. I tried different techniques with each one. I ended up completely covering one with flowers and I thought: fat lot of use using the diffuser then! I really liked that card though and decided to make it for little Miss Sophie who turns 1 in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately I realised after I made it that if she is anything like her oldest sister (Miss 5), she will pull all the decorative bits off her first birthday card from me (true story!).  Also, I used a flag/pennant from a prize which is actually quite pointy and therefore dangerous to 1 year olds! Looks like you will be seeing me make a[nother] 1st birthday card on here soon :)

The other project I worked on was a mini album I completed the bones of over a year ago. It is a book for my youngest niece about our stories, our relationship, our photos along with words of wisdom.  All I needed to do was fill in the journaling.  I finally sat down to add some stories and pulled out PL type stamps to add words and phrases to photos and the journaling cards.  I intend on getting her to fill in cards too.  My cards are along the lines of: The story of ... and there is even one that says: I must really love you because.... and I added all the children's shows and movies I have sat through with her!

The album is a $2 one I got from Target in America. I've had it for years and I started making this at the end of 2011 I think!

This is what it looks like now:

I used Tim Holtz tissue tape for the first time on this project and it started a love affair

I even went to the trouble of mirroring the title on the inside page - boy, I must really love her :) PS I did not dress her in the watermelon outfit! Her mother, my sister, did and it was just for fun. Honest.  Unfortunately, my niece's gorgeous auburn hair turned blond as she got older.

The album has paper bags in it that I embossed and inked. This might have been near the beginning of my love for Tim Holtz and his distress inks. Lots of BoBunny ETC range in this album and lots and lots of inking and stamping. Each double page spread has a paper bag (filled with photos and cards for journaling) and pockets.

You are forgiven if you are thinking that this book is a little masculine and not girly at all. Green is my niece's favourite colour so that was the base for the album and the BoBunny ETC range was very me (it's a book for both of us).

Seeing as I don't have pictures to load of the updated journaling I will let you in on the original funny story that was the impetus to make the book. The Story Of The Madarin: Eden (age 2) was asked if she would like a mandarin.  She said, "Yep!" and scrambled off her seat and ran to the back door. She opened the door, looked out and came back in saying: "She's not there". "Who?" they asked. "Aunty Manda" she replied. Turns out she thought they were asking her if she would like to let Aunty Manda in!

Cute, right? :-)

I will load pictures at some point it's just I am time poor now that my travel has been rescheduled for this weekend! Full on week of work after my time off then I'm off to SENZ for the day!!!! I am booked into a class run by Scottie Crafts in Auckland - they may also have been the enablers who provided me with the Sizzix diffusers (I admit nothing!)

If you made it to the end you will find out, not only a cute story about my niece, but also that I am entering this in Inspiration Emporium's June Challenge. The challenge is Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue. Now, this album is quite old and I started it over a year ago. But, it is new because it is completely different to its original state (some may say it looked better before I altered it). I have used older product from my stash (metal charms, 'borrowed'  luggage lock, paint).  Unfortunately it is not blue.  I hope it fits their criteria - the details for the challenge are here . 

Materials: Album (Target), Paint (Making Memories), Tissue Tape (Tim Holtz), Ink (Tim Holtz, Stampin' Up!), Stamps (various - time poor!), RIbbon (Stampin' Up!), Papers and Chipboard(BoBunny), Embossing Folders (Cuttlebug), Mesh, Embossing Powder (Ranger)

Set The Timer!

Just to prove I can do cards quickly I decided to create a card based on the previous one I made and time myself.  I felt very rushed doing it under the pressure of the timer and, of course, when you are trying to be fast, things get in the way (draws close on your fingers and washi sticks to your scissors!).  From start to finish it took me 8 minutes to complete the card. If I wasn't so anal about inking the edges of things it would've been quicker. I just had to ink the edges of the arrows (with a stamping marker). It really did make a difference as they now look like they have some depth to them (as if they are cut from chipboard rather than just cardstock).I actually made two as you will see from the picture:

Apologies for the photo.  I did load a second one that is better but it still doesn't show them off very well. If I tilt my laptop downwards away from me then I can see the details on the bottom of the picture. Hope that helps - apologies if you have a PC!

 

So, in 16 minutes I have 2 cards for my stash - brilliant. Mind you, the 16 minutes does not include clean up!  I think I am getting a little bored with this sketch now; as I am sure you are. Time to look for a new sketch to work with methinks.

I am entering these cards in two challenges:

Simon Says Stamp n Show - Kraft. Kraft is the base for these cards and I took inspiration from one of the cards on their blog which had the combo of white ink on kraft.  The details are here .

Southern Girls Challenge - Give It An Upper Cut and Punch It Out. Their challenge requires you to use a punch or die cut. I used an arrow punch on my cards. The details for the challenge are here  .

Materials:
Kraft (Ormolu), Washi (7 Gypsies, Somi, other), White Cardstock (Stampin' Up!),
Arrow Punch (EK Success), Stamp (Kaisercraft), Ink (Stampin' Up!), Red Pen (Stampin' Up! - for inking the edge of the arrows).



Another Quickie

And I swear this card really did come together really quickly - 15 mins or so. That's really quick for me!

Remember this card from a while ago?

Remember me saying that this would be really quick to recreate with washi tape? Well, that's exactly what I did and it really was quick. This time I made it more masculine as it is for my Dad who had a birthday earlier this month. Here it is:

No arrows this time; I  had planned on using photo corners on their side as arrows but thought these gems worked better instead.  I have a confession on the card. I originally pitched the diagonal too high and the washi strips ended up too close to the top of the card. Thank goodness washi tape is so forgiving! I was able to carefully prise the pieces up and relay them on the card - and you wouldn't even have known if I didn't tell you.

I am entering this card in two challenges: A Blog Named Hero and Simon Says Stamp.

A Blog Named Hero's challenge is to make a masculine card -  the card is for my Dad so I'm sure it counts. The details are here  .

Simon Says Stamp's challenge is to make a card with a transport theme - the vintage cars on the washi tape count right? I hope so! The details are here  .

Materials: Kraft (Ormolu), Washi (Teressa Collins - grey, Typo - blue grid and argle, Somi - cars and vintage), Pearls (Kaisercraft), Stamp (Kaisercraft), Ink (Archival), Corner Chomper (WRMK).

Where Have I Been?

Where have I been? Why, at Creative Adventure Downunder of course! And it was awesome!!!!!!
Three days away with the BFF and 140 like-minded scrappers with 4 amazing tutors - how could we not have an amazing time?  The tutors were: Teresa Collins, Heidi Swapp, Donna Downey and Maggie Armstrong (from NZ). I will do seperate blog posts for all of the classes otherwise this post would use up your entire month's broadband data!

Over two and a half days we attended 6 classes and enjoyed a theme dinner on the first night. They arranged for a photobooth for us on the first night too so we could have pics taken on our own or with a person we came with (or connected with). The photos were then used in the layout designed by Maggie Armstrong.  Maggie also made a fab Ellen for the theme dinner and entertained us all.

The classes ran from 9am to 6pm (until 12pm on the Sunday) and we were all exhausted at the end of each day! Luckily the BFF and I stayed onsite at the Ibis and only had to walk to our rooms. The hotel supplied a buffet lunch for us which was amazing and I can't believe how much I ate but I tell ya, I needed the extra calories!

One of the reasons, apart from the fantastic classes and tutors, was the weekend away with the BFF. We haven't done that in years! Lots of fun and laughter was had and I was a tad worried we might even get kicked out on the first night (I swear no wine had been consumed at that point!). 

Keep an eye out for the posts in the next few days (can't promise I will get it all down today) for a quick *chokes on laughter* recap of each class.

Would you look at that. I managed to get all the classes recapped but they are in backwards order! Grrrrr! Should've started from the last class - who knew?

Day Three: Teressa Collins Travel Album

Our final class on Sunday morning was with the lovely TC again!  This class was definitely a bit of me as we made a travel album with various sized pages. I love that kind of thing and I added in extra bits n bobs to personalise it:

Pretty cool huh? next up: the inside pages.

This album I did manage to add photos to. I also had a mini journal album I had made previously for this surprise trip and I ripped it apart and used items in the album. They don't exactly fit but the journalling was already done so why redo it, right? Here's a picture of how it looks completed.

 

 

As a bonus, I managed to cut through some binding ribbon when I was punching the binding holes. TC said I was the first person ever (she really emphasised that word) to do this worldwide! Lucky me. She then said I really was her special friend - somehow I don't think she meant that in a good way?!?!?!

Day Two: Donna Downey Art Journal

Boy, this last class on Saturday was a biggie - 5 hours! To be honest I hit the wall about 2 hours before the class end time. I think it was a combo of tiredness and lack of acrylic colours which the class had to share. I stayed to the end but I didn't linger to finish anything in my journal. I did get a picture with Donna and her signature in my journal. The handmade journals she gave us are gorgeous! I wanted to keep it just as it was - not mar it with paint! Take a look:

The inside pages are simply white Bazzil cardstock and random items like envelopes. I love them!

This class was totally different for me. Funnily enough, the BFF thought this class was more my thing than hers and that I would be more likely to do the artsy thing again than her. Turns out, she enjoyed it more than I! For me, I took away that I learned about how colours work together (or don't) but in a way that I saw and will remember without actually attending a class on how colours work. 

Part of me is embarrassed to show the pages but the thing about the album is that it is a place to play and see how things work (or don't). It is not something to pull out and say: look what I made. I am tempted though to pull out the pages I used and add new, clean ones in (I told you I like the journal itself!). Here's the journal pages as they are:

Okay, I cheated! This is a stamp that Donna did in my album for me.

I'm going to label the second to last one: child in a highchair with a tomato and mustard :)